


Silver Cinders on the Road to Matrimony

by notaverse



Series: Silver Cinders [1]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M, uke!Jin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-02
Updated: 2011-10-02
Packaged: 2017-10-24 06:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notaverse/pseuds/notaverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jin dreams of escaping his life of housework, leaving his stepfamily and starting over with only his dog for company. Prince Kame dreams of marrying for love, not politics, and Yamapi...probably dreams of food. When the prince throws a ball to find himself a suitor, a visit from a fairy godmother sets Jin's dreams on the path to becoming reality...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver Cinders on the Road to Matrimony

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Silver Cinders on the Road to Matrimony  
>  **Fandom:** KAT-TUN  
>  **Pairing:** Kame x Jin  
>  **Rating:** PG  
>  **Genre:** Twisted fairy tale  
>  **Disclaimer:** Not mine, damnit.
> 
> I play fast and loose with names here, so there's no consistency. First names, surnames, nicknames, you name it. I shamelessly throw in random JE guys, and please be warned that Junno is a dog for most of this fic. A very cute one, with a tail that wags a lot. ^_^

"Jin! I can't find my headphones! Stop what you're doing and go look for them, all right?"

"Jin! Haven't you finished the laundry yet? I need my best scarf in five minutes or I'm going to be late!"

"Jin!"

"Jin!"

"Where *is* that boy?"

Safely tucked away in the pantry, Jin listened to his stepmother and two stepbrothers above complaining about his failure as a housekeeper. They never thought to look for him there - perhaps because it involved going down to the cellar, and that, they made it perfectly clear, was *his* domain and they weren't going to sully themselves by spending more time understairs than they could help.

At least it meant they couldn't possibly starve him. He munched on a hastily-made sandwich until the voices faded: Koki stormed off in a huff because Nakamaru had borrowed his headphones without asking, Nakamaru remembered he'd actually thrown out his favourite scarf because Koki had accidentally ruined it, and their witch of a mother gave up on her hunt for Jin because it was time to watch Shounen Club.

Their mother. Not *his*.

Jin's real mother had died when he was six. His memories of her, though few and blurry, were all good. She'd been a kind, gentle woman, and when illness had taken her from him, Jin's father had been devastated. He'd done his best to raise Jin alone, to make him into the kind of man he could be proud of.

As far as Jin was concerned, his father had been doing a good job. Evidently, his father hadn't thought so, because he'd come home the weekend of Jin's thirteenth birthday with a wealthy widow in tow, complete with her two sons from her previous marriage.

It hadn't been so bad, when his father had been alive. His new stepmother had ignored him, for the most part, and when she deigned to pay attention to him it was usually to tell him to cut his hair shorter, to stop wearing skirts, and just generally be more manly, like her precious sons. Jin tried to explain that he was only wearing skirts to be like Duke Subaru of Shibutani - the older man had an unusual sense of style - but she told him if he wanted a fashion idol, he'd do better to imitate Prime Minister Nagase.

Even when he took up the guitar, figuring you couldn't get much more macho than cranking the amp up to max and rocking the roof off the house, she told him he should have learned the drums instead, like Count Tadayoshi of Ohkura.

Now, of course, she wouldn't even let him play, claiming he disturbed her delicate nerves with his racket. Since his father's untimely death a year ago at the hands of an inept court assassin - he'd forgotten to put his contacts in, and shot the unfortunate merchant by mistake - Jin had found himself having to hide his guitar, his jewellery, and anything else he treasured, or his stepbrothers would find it.

The only thing his father had left him that he didn't have to hide was the family dog, a cheery black Labrador named Junno. While his stepmother had successfully rid the house of all other traces of husband no. 2, even she had a soft spot for the dog, and her sons positively adored him.

Junno, however, loved Jin the best, and consequently whenever the boy took up hiding in the pantry, the dog went too. Of course, Jin mused, this might have something to do with the fact that he knew he was going to get food...

Junno whined softly and lay down with his head on Jin's lap, hoping to have his ears fondled, and Jin didn't disappoint him. Not that Junno ever showed signs of disappointment. The dog was extraordinarily happy, and Jin had already decided that in one month, when he came of age on his eighteenth birthday and could finally move out, he was going to take his canine companion with him.

"Just you and me, right?" he whispered to Junno, who wagged his tail in response. "We'll go find ourselves somewhere to live in peace, and I'll play guitar and sing for money and you just...uh...be your lovable self."

Unsurprisingly, the dog did not disagree.

But Jin couldn't hide away for too long. His stepmother, free now to run the household as she chose, had dismissed their few servants on the basis that she could save money by simply getting Jin to take over all the chores, and his workload seemed to be never-ending.

A door slammed upstairs, followed almost immediately after by one on the floor above, and Jin gently nudged Junno aside so he could get to his feet, grinning all the while. "That first door must have been Nakamaru going out, and the second one was probably Koki going to listen to music in his room," Jin commented to the dog. He liked to pretend that Junno could understand him, because that way it didn't feel like he was talking to himself - and even that was still more fun than talking to the other three occupants of the house.

Junno whined almost quizzically and cocked his head, as if to ask, "What now?"

"Now," Jin handed the dog the remains of his sandwich, "you and I sneak out of here. I have to go grocery shopping anyway, and if they see me leaving they'll find all sorts of things for me to do before I can go."

Like the time Koki had insisted that Jin help him attach individual sequins to his hooded sweatshirt. *Thousands* of sequins. And then Jin had gotten the blame when some of them accidentally ended up on his stepmother's shoes, resulting in her having hysterics and insisting that he wasn't allowed outside for a month. (Once she'd realised that this meant somebody else had to do the shopping, she'd relented and changed the punishment so that he couldn't go out after dark for a month instead.)

His stepbrothers weren't *mean*, exactly...but they sure were selfish. And lazy. And petty. And quick to mock. To avoid his stepmother's commands to keep his hair short, Jin had adopted the habit of tying it back and wearing a bandana over it - which had the added bonus of keeping the dust out when he cleaned - but his stepbrothers enjoyed nothing better than making fun of his choice of headgear.

Jin put a finger over his lips and nodded to Junno that he must keep silent; Junno wagged his tail again and did a backflip of joy that they were going to go walkies. Jin never grew tired of marvelling at his pet's acrobatics.

They made their way slowly through the cellar to the kitchen, where Jin found his stepbrothers had been adding things to his shopping list again. From the vast quantities of alcohol and snack food added, Jin surmised they were going to be having another one of their parties - or 'strategy meetings' as they liked to refer to them.

Jin had never been invited to one, of course, but he knew what they were about. His stepbrothers invited all their friends over and they all got drunk, ate too much, listened to loud music, and talked about how to snare the prince.

Everyone knew that Prince Kame, only son of King Takki and Queen (it was a non-gendered job title) Tsubasa, preferred men. Given his parents, the skewed male-female birth ratio in the kingdom and the almost total lack of women anywhere in the palace, it wasn't a surprise. So when Kame married, everyone figured it would have to be to a guy.

Result: the topic of how to catch the prince, win his hand in marriage and live in eternal luxury, was the most talked-about at any social gathering involving single men of marriageable age (and some married ones). Even the avowedly straight men frequently had their heads turned by the prince's good looks, after an early ugly duckling phase had, with the help of some hair dye and tweezers, given way to unearthly beauty.

Personally, Jin didn't give a damn what the prince looked like. It wasn't as if they were ever going to meet, after all. His ambitions didn't extend as far as finding himself a prince to marry - right now, he was more concerned with how his stepbrothers kept putting beer on the list for him to buy despite the fact that he was underage...

"Idiots," Jin muttered to himself as he stuffed the list in the back pocket of his torn, stained jeans. "If they want beer so much, they can go buy it themselves."

"But you're going shopping anyway, aren't you?" came a familiar voice from the door.

Koki. Jin winced in anticipation of the hundred-and-one things his stepbrother would no doubt find for him to do. Evidently, it had been the witch who'd locked herself in her room, not the younger of her two sons.

"I'm going shopping for *groceries*," Jin said tersely. "Food we need. If you guys want to get drunk so much, go to a bar."

Koki slung himself round the edge of the doorframe and into the kitchen, crouching down to pet Junno. The dog ducked under his hand and squeezed behind the vegetable rack on the other side of the room, about as far from Koki as he could get without actually leaving.

Jin repressed a smile at Junno's actions and turned his back on Koki, hoping to get out through the kitchen's external door before the other boy could say anything further.

No such luck. His shaven-headed stepbrother gave up on the dog and quickly crossed the kitchen to block Jin's escape route.

"Hey, if you order the beer, we'll let you have some."

It wasn't the first time Koki had dangled this bait in front of him. All the bills were charged to the household account and the shops delivered anyway, but Jin still had to go in person to place and sign the orders. He couldn't order anything he wanted for himself, since his stepmother scrutinised the bills very carefully, and the only money he had of his own had been left to him by his father - and that, he was saving for when he came of age.

"Like you said you would last time?" Jin retorted.

Koki shrugged. "I didn't know Duke Subaru was gonna turn up and drink half a case by himself, did I? You know he doesn't always show."

Grudgingly, Jin conceded that Koki had a point. "Fine, I'll order your stupid beer. But when you guys all throw up 'cause you've had too much, you're cleaning it up yourselves."

"Maybe I will - using your bandana. Couldn't make it any uglier, right?" Koki smirked and headed out, swiping a soda as he went.

Jin breathed a sigh of relief and made a dash for the door, Junno at his heels. He made it outside, got all the way to the gate when he heard a window being thrown open.

"Jin!"

He fixed a smile firmly on his face and turned round to look up at his stepmother, hanging half out of a second-floor window. "Yes, ma'am?"

"The shopping can wait," she called down to him. "This is much more important. Viscount Aiba has generously accepted my dinner invitation and will be here promptly at six. You will serve us dinner at seven, and don't spare the dessert."

Jin groaned. His father, while not nobility himself, had been close to a number of that class and now their sons, mostly of Jin's own generation, were cultivating the friendship of the family he'd left behind.

Most of them. They didn't bother with Jin.

"And if I don't go shopping, there won't be any dessert!" he yelled back.

"You can shop afterwards; there's something else I need you to do first."

"What?"

"Childproof the house!"

Junno howled and hid behind a tree; Jin wished he could do the same. He wouldn't have minded the slave labour so much if was being paid for it, but doing it all for free simply because his father had made a really bad second marriage...there was no honour to be found, there. He couldn't do any sort of paid work until he came of age, not without the witch's consent, but he swore that when he did, it definitely wasn't going to include providing desserts to dumb nobles.

Viscount Aiba was probably going to be around for Koki and Nakamaru's latest 'strategy meeting', too, cooing over the prince's newest shop photos and convincing himself that he had what it took to marry into royalty.

Royalty. Hah. Jin was willing to bet the prince didn't have to spend all afternoon securing the house against the viscount's curious wanderings. He was probably still in bed, recovering from the previous night's misadventures with some handsome young thing, or busy shopping for fabulously expensive accessories in the most exclusive boutiques in the kingdom.

It was all right for some.

\-----

Prince Kame, only son of King Takki and Queen (it was a non-gendered job title) Tsubasa, the most eligible bachelor in the entire kingdom, was not, as it happened, still in bed. Nor was he shopping for accessories, expensive or otherwise.

He was, in fact, hiding in the palace's enormous pantry, and like Jin, he was not alone.

Kame's company, however, was human, though just as playful and fluffy. His faithful friend and companion, Yamapi, was standing sentry at the door, keeping a watchful eye out for pursuers while the prince caught his breath.

"Never...hah...seeing...that idiot...again," Kame panted, one hand on his chest.

Yamapi looked appropriately sympathetic. "I told you taking Viscount Kusano to Baron Ryo's birthday party was a mistake. He gets really possessive when he starts drinking."

Kame reflected on their mad dash through the palace gardens, mere steps ahead of his erstwhile suitor, and rolled his eyes. "You don't have to tell me twice. He thinks we're engaged because I asked him to one lousy party!" He pulled a marshmallow out of the bag on a nearby shelf and bit down savagely on the sweet.

He hadn't taken Kusano seriously - never took anybody seriously, so long as they appeared to be more in love with the idea of marrying into the royal family than they were with him - but the boy had seemed...well...eager. And he could dance, too.

Unfortunately, Kusano's crush on Kame had gotten out of hand, to the extent that the prince had spent the better part of his day avoiding him. It wasn't the first time one of his liaisons had blown up in his face, leaving him alone again.

"Why are all the good ones either straight or married?" Kame pondered aloud through a mouthful of marshmallow. "I go to all the right parties, accept all the right dinner invitations, move in all the right circles...what am I doing wrong?"

"You know I hate to suggest this, but," Yamapi's voice was unusually serious, "you could try girls. It would make the business of providing your heir a lot simpler too. Not like all that business your parents went through with the sorcerer and male pregnancy and everything..."

As usually happened when he started talking about Takki and Tsubasa, Yamapi began to drift off into a kind of dreamy, dazed state, which Kame would have found quite charming if they hadn't been *his* parents. Sure, they still looked like a pair of twenty-somethings, but they were both almost forty and Kame found his friend's blind adoration for them both to be a little...creepy.

Kame shook his head and swallowed the remains of his sweet. "I don't think girls are the answer, Pi."

"You just don't want to marry anyone who might be prettier than you. I can understand that."

The prince looked thoughtfully down at his beautifully painted nails. Were there any girls out there prettier than he was? It was a moot point, since he wasn't attracted to them, and with his parents setting a precedent no one was going to complain if he married a man.

Actually, as long as he got married soon, no one was going to complain if he married his *car*. The insufferable ministers who surrounded his parents kept hinting that a royal marriage would be good for the people, good for their relationships with neighbouring kingdoms, good for the _crops_ , even.

Whether or not it would be good for the prince, they never said, and privately, Kame wasn't sure they cared. His parents, who definitely did care, were saying more or less the same things, only with the emphasis that oh, wouldn't it be nice if he settled down soon and gave them some grandchildren while they were still young enough to play baseball with them, and wouldn't Kame be happy if he had someone to share his life with the way they had? (This conversation inevitably ended with his parents giving each other sappy looks and retreating to the Royal Bedroom, at which point Kame made his escape.)

"I don't care about the looks," he said finally. "When I marry, I want it to be someone who can make me happy - and someone whose happiness I can actually care about. I haven't found anyone like that yet."

Yamapi pouted and pretended to be hurt. "Aww, Kame doesn't care about my happiness?"

Grinning, Kame swatted his friend lightly on the shoulder. "I can't marry you, can I? All your lovers would be lining up to challenge me to a duel!"

"I guess I can't be responsible for getting the heir killed."

"Are you implying that I'd lose?"

Both boys looked at each other and burst out laughing, attracting the attention of one of the underchefs. He didn't have the authority to tell them to leave, but did drop hints that if Viscount Kusano were to appear in the kitchens, he might be forced to reveal their hiding place unless they moved on.

"Does *everyone* know how disastrous my love life is?" Kame complained as the two of them sneaked out of the pantry and took off full-pelt for the hedge maze, not stopping until they were happily ensconced in the centre where Kusano would never find them.

"Your love life is the hottest gossip in the palace," Yamapi remarked. "You hadn't noticed?"

Kame was aghast. "Of course not!"

"Everyone's desperate to find out who you'll marry so they know who to start sucking up to."

"Oh."

The young prince sprawled out on the grass, resting his head on his hands, and watched Yamapi make a daisy chain. He'd been quite right to say that he couldn't marry his friend, for all that he loved him dearly. Kame wanted to meet someone new, someone different. Someone who didn't spend all his time on the endless round of parties, charitable events and hunts that seemed to take up the bulk of the leisure time of young nobles.   
Wouldn't it give the ministers a fit if he suddenly announced he wanted to wed a commoner? Kame was sure of it. But how to meet one?

"We need a ball," he declared without warning, causing Yamapi to drop his daisy chain.

"Any type in particular? Football? Baseball? Tennis?"

"Not that kind of ball," Kame said impatiently. "A party!"

Yamapi propped himself up one elbow. "Sounds good."

"And we'll throw it open to all single, non-criminal men between the ages of sixteen and thirty, regardless of rank."

"Not so good. You want to invite commoners?"

"I need a *change*, Pi! I need to meet new people."

"That's fine," Yamapi said dubiously, "but what will everyone think?"

"I'm the prince," Kame said sweetly. "They'll think whatever I tell them to."

\-----

The household of the Widow Akanishi was in a frenzy. That morning, an invitation had arrived in the mail to invite all single males in the house between the ages of sixteen and thirty to a royal ball, thrown by Prince Kame himself. The gossip all round town was that the prince was having such bad luck with nobles, he was willing to look to other classes to find himself a consort, and Koki and Nakamaru were already picturing themselves living a life of luxury in the palace.

Jin wasn't.

"The invitation doesn't include you," his stepmother said nastily, snatching it out of his hand when he attempted to read it. "The prince would never be interested in someone like you, who spends all his time up to his filthy elbows in housework and doesn't even own a single piece of clothing without a rent or tear."

"And whose fault is it that I'm doing all the housework?" Jin muttered. He didn't care about meeting the prince, but he did want to go to the ball. He needed to get out, even if it was only for one night, and remind himself that there was a better life out there somewhere, one that didn't involve sweeping and doing dishes.

Nakamaru swanned through and seized the invitation for himself, clutching it to his chest with a sigh. "When I marry the prince, we'll all go live in the palace," he said happily. "Then you'll have lots of help with the housework."

 _Yes, all those other servants..._ "Hey!"

Junno, sensing his master was offended, immediately nipped at Nakamaru's ankles in protest.

Koki laughed. "I'll be the one marrying the prince." He hooked his thumbs in his thick gold chain and held it out from his chest, bragging, "Who could resist some of this?"

"Now, now, boys," their mother said hurriedly. "We mustn't fight over this. Of course one of you will marry the prince, but right now we need to ensure that you don't just beat out the competition, you absolutely slaughter them. And we know what that means, don't we?"

Jin knew only too well, and trudged off to fetch his sewing kit. It was time to make his stepbrothers look fit for a king - or at least a prince.

Three days, many yards of material and not a great deal of sleep later, and Jin thought he'd done pretty well, considering the constant interruptions from his stepmother, and Koki and Nakamaru insisting on practising their rapping and beatboxing respectively while he was fitting them, the better to catch the prince's attention. Jin considered sending an anonymous note to the palace to warn the prince that if he valued his peace and quiet at all, he should stay well away from both of them.

In truth, he didn't begrudge his stepbrothers their chance at happiness - but he didn't think either of them were concerned with the prince at all, only with marrying into royalty. That wasn't a recipe for a happy marriage.

Besides, they were going off for a night of fun, all dressed up, while Jin was going to be stuck at home, doing the chores, wearing his old, ripped jeans, and a faded shirt. He'd outgrown all his decent clothing, had to resort to making more from the remains, but the outfits were still plain and practical - nothing he could wear for a ball. Besides, if he'd possessed anything obviously fancy, his stepbrothers would long since have "borrowed" it and forgotten to give it back.

"I'll be over at the spectator's gallery with the other proud parents," the witch promised her sons. "I want to see their faces turn green with envy when the prince picks one of *my* boys."

"Then they'll match Koki's outfit," Nakamaru sniped.

Koki sneered. "At least I don't look like a disco ball!"

He'd opted to go down the casual route, wearing classic jeans and a green 'JOKER' shirt, beautifully trimmed and decorated, designed to leave the prince in no doubt that here was a truly macho man.

Nakamaru, on the other hand, was resplendent in a shiny purple suit, complete with tie and hat, intending to dazzle the prince with his elegance.

Notwithstanding the sour expressions on both their faces, Jin thought they both looked pretty good. He only got a brief moment to admire his handiwork, unfortunately - his stepmother ushered them both out the door. As a parting shot, she uttered, "But I'm not so cruel as to make you miss your brothers' moment of glory. If you can iron every scrap of material in the house and have it all crisp and smooth before my return, you may go to the ball. Not that you have anything to wear, of course, and they may not let you in, dressed like that..."

She turned on her heel, swept her black, flowing cape about her and practically danced out the front door.

Left to his own devices, Jin pulled out the ironing board, thought about the sheer amount of linen in the house, and gave up before he even got started. It was an impossible task. His stepmother was a complete clothes horse and his stepbrothers were worse, and that wasn't even including all the bedding.

Not only was the likelihood of him completing all the ironing a slim one, but his stepmother was right - he didn't have a thing to wear. Moreover, they'd taken the car - not that he'd been allowed to get his license, anyway - so he'd have had to go by public transport. Going to a royal ball by _bus_ seemed wrong, somehow.

Damn it, it wasn't fair! Jin had just as much right to go to the ball as his stepbrothers - more so, even, because the invitation had been addressed to the Akanishi Family and he was the only real Akanishi left.

He sank down in a pile of sheets, creasing them further, and tickled Junno's tummy when the dog curled up with him.

"At least one of us is happy," he murmured.

"You can both be happy," said a voice from behind him.

Jin rolled over on the sheets - the dog did the same, thinking they were playing - and turned to look at the intruder. He was slender, of average height, with longish black hair and slightly-too-pale-to-be-healthy skin. His clothing matched his hair - black trousers topped by a loose black shirt with some kind of knitted vest thrown over it, and finished off with silver-buckled black boots.

All that black could only mean one thing, and Jin ducked under the sheets in terror. "The Grim Reaper!"

"What?" The intruder clomped over to Jin, pulled the sheets off his head, and gave him an exasperated look as he hauled him to his feet. "People are always saying that. I think I'm going to have to dye my hair, or wear flannel shirts, or something. I'm not the Grim Reaper, so stop cowering!"

"You're not?"

"I'm not." The intruder was most firm on this point. "My name is Ueda, and I'm a fairy godmother."

"Don't you mean, 'godfather'? You are a guy, aren't you?"

"It's a non-gendered job title," Ueda said testily. "Do you want my help or not?"

"Uh..." Jin wasn't sure what to make of it all. Fairy godmothers generally worked magic, or so he'd heard, and he'd never had any experience with that. He opted to err on the side of caution. "Help with what, exactly?"

"To go to the ball, of course!" Despite his gloomy appearance, Ueda was smiling brightly. "I know you want to go. You have every right to go."

"But I can't go!" Jin wailed. "I don't have a thing to wear and I don't have time to make anything because I've got all this ironing to do!"

The fairy snorted. "Mortals. So hung up on housework. Give me a minute."

Small tornados of fairy dust whirled from room to room, neatly folding and flattening any fabric they found, with the unexpected benefit of cleaning it at the same time. Jin watched, astounded, while Junno darted playfully between the spirals, occasionally running round in circles so he could join in with the fun.

"A-Amazing!" Jin stammered. "I'd have taken all night to do that!"

"You have better things to do with your night," Ueda assured him. "Take off the bandana and untie your hair."

Jin obeyed, letting his tousled brown curls spill down to his shoulders; nobody, not even his stepfamily, had seen him like that, and it changed his whole appearance.

The fairy appraised him critically, one hand on his black-clad hip. "Hmm," he said. "That's not a bad start. Now I need to find you something to wear. How do you feel about silk?"

Before Jin could answer that yes, he loved silk but hadn't worn any since he was twelve, Ueda snapped his fingers and Jin's tatty, disheveled clothing disappeared. In its place, as Jin discovered when he caught sight of himself in a mirror, were smart black trousers, a white silk shirt that hung loosely to mid-thigh, and an elegant black coat that fitted snugly over the rest and made Jin seem taller than he really was.

"I like that," Ueda declared. "The simple, clean, black and white look - it's a classic. You'll really stand out amongst all those overdressed, brightly-coloured peacocks. The prince won't be able to help noticing you."

Jin shivered, though out of excitement or anxiety he couldn't have said. The idea of meeting an actual prince was an overwhelming one; just being in the palace was more than he'd ever dreamed of.

"And if we just tidy your hair a bit..." Ueda snapped his fingers again and another fairy dust tornado formed, this time around Jin, leaving him cleaned, brushed and faintly lemony-fresh. "That's better. Don't know how the prince feels about calluses, though, so you're going to wear gloves."

In the time it took Jin to blink, black, fingerless gloves of softest leather appeared on his hands. He flexed experimentally, loving the way the material gleamed in the light. It had been a long time since he'd been able to preen on his own account.

"You clean up quite well," Ueda remarked. "Maybe I should take you home with me." At Jin's confused look, he added, "Just kidding. We're almost done here; you've a pierced ear, haven't you?"

Jin's father had let him get his ear pierced for his eighth birthday, but Jin hadn't worn an earring in it since the old man's death. There was one in particular that he didn't want his stepbrothers to realise that he still owned.

It was as good a time as any to remove it from its hiding place.

"I have," he replied, "and I know what I want to wear. Wait here a minute."

Five minutes later, Jin returned with a silver lady dangling from one ear, and necklace to match lying against his chest where the shirt gaped open. The set was a present from his father, a custom-made fifteenth birthday gift, and the design was unique. It was the most precious thing he owned; and, he thought, the most beautiful.

"Bravo!" his fairy godmother applauded. "Matches perfectly. Now for a hat," another snap of the fingers, "to make you a real man of mystery. I hear the prince is looking for someone different, and you want to make him work for it, don't you?"

"I'm not going there to snare the prince. I've never even met him!" Jin pointed out, but his protests fell on deaf ears.

"We'll soon fix that," Ueda said tartly. "But first you have to get there."

"Can't you just snap your fingers again and magic me there?" Jin was hoping to avoid the bus, and there was no way he was going to be able to get a taxi on the biggest night of the social calendar.

"Magic doesn't work like that. There is something I *can* do, though." Ueda pursed his lips thoughtfully, then went outside, Junno trotting along at his heels. After some initial apprehension, the dog had taken to Ueda easily enough, recognising him as the person responsible for making those fun whirlwind toys.

Standing on the driveway, Ueda fished a toy car from his pocket and set it down on the gravel. One finger-click later and Jin had his ride: a brand-new, shiny black Ferrari, top down and ready for action.

Only one problem: Jin had never learned to drive. The witch wouldn't let him.

Ueda sighed. "I don't like transfiguring living creatures, but I don't have a choice this time. Come here, boy."

Jin immediately stepped forward, then realised Ueda had been talking to Junno, not him. The fairy bent down and let the dog nuzzle his cheek, then set a hand on his back.

Under Ueda's touch, the dog began to grow, stretching until he lay a full six feet tall on the ground. That in itself was astonishing, but the encore was far more spectacular.

Junno, the cheerful black Labrador, became Junno, the even more cheerful, black leather-clad human.

"Jin, meet your driver. He may not have a license but he's fully trained," Ueda informed him.

Jin took a step back from the grinning former-dog, not so stunned by power of the magic as he was by the brightness of the man's smile.

Junno was practically jumping up and down with excitement, and if he'd still had a tail, it would've been wagging. "Hi! I'll be your driver tonight!"

"How does a _dog_ learn to drive?" Jin spluttered.

"Crash course," Ueda said, and smirked as Jin winced at the joke. "I can implant the knowledge in his head because his little doggy brain isn't taken up with all sorts of useless things, like ironing. Just don't expect much in the way of conversation."

"Can I have a treat?" Junno asked, scratching at the door to get back in the house. "I've been a good boy - everyone tells me so!"

Jin sighed and patted his driver on the head, which seemed to mollify him. "If you can get me to the ball and back in one piece, you can have all the treats you want," he promised.

Ueda looked thrilled. "Off you go, and don't you dare stand in the corner all night after all my hard work! Get out there and dance!"

"I intend to." Jin was deadly earnest about this, having been denied a chance to give his hips a real workout for years.

Junno sprang nimbly into the driver's seat, caught the keys Ueda threw at him, and started the engine. Jin tried to ignore the fact that he was about to be driven by a dog, and climbed in after him.

"One last thing," Ueda interrupted their joyful goodbyes. "When the clock strikes midnight, the magic begins to wear off, so you'd better be home by then."

"Midnight?" Jin sounded vaguely disgusted. "Can't you at least make it three a.m.? Who leaves a party at midnight?"

"Leave *before* midnight," Ueda advised, "and that's just the way the magic works. Ignore my warning and it'll be a long walk home for you and your pet."

Trudging home from the palace in the middle of the night, his dog at his side, did not hold much appeal for Jin. Midnight it was.

\-----

The ball started at eight o'clock. By five minutes past eight, Kame was regretting his decision to invite...well, anybody except his closest friends, really. The whole occasion was turning into an unmitigated disaster of the highest order, beginning with the gate guards accidentally forgetting that Viscount Kusano was barred from the palace.

Luckily, Kame had still been meeting and greeting when his stalker turned up, and had managed to avoid dancing with him on the grounds that he couldn't possibly be introduced to every guest if he was whirling round the ballroom with Kusano, could he?

By ten o'clock, he was considering feigning an injured ankle. It wouldn't have been difficult - most of his dance partners thus far had been clumsy at best, downright dangerous at worst. The nobles were better at it, since they had more practice, but even they seemed to have two left feet once they got near Kame.

"This isn't working," he complained to Yamapi, who'd finally stopped dancing long enough to rehydrate himself.

Yamapi managed to look both delirious and clueless at the same time. "What isn't working?"

"This!" Kame waved his hand to indicate the ballroom in full swing. "This mess! I must have danced with half the men in here already, and they've either been arrogant jerks who insist on telling me how lucky I'd be to have them, or they've been timid little mice who are too shy to do more than stammer out a few flatteries."

His friend gave him a lazy grin. "You're obviously dancing with all the wrong people."

"All the right people are only dancing with each other," Kame moped.

Sure enough, many couples had formed on the dancefloor, refusing to let anyone else cut in. Why, the young Baron Shige, his father lately killed by the same horrible disease that had left the parents of many of his peers deceased, appeared to be getting over his grief rather well with the help of his neighbour, Count Koyama. Duke Subaru had even gone so far as to link up with seven others, forming a tight circle of eight, and interlopers intruded at their peril.

"But isn't that good? You don't want to hook up with anyone who's already in a relationship, do you?" Yamapi glanced sidelong at the prince. "Or has Kame decided he wants to be a homewrecker?"

For the first time that evening, Kame cracked a smile. "I'm not *that* desperate!"

"Then stop looking like you are. Get back out there and dance like you don't have a care in the world, because good-looking guys like us shouldn't have any worries."

"Tell that to the ministers who keep hassling me," Kame suggested, but he knew Yamapi was right. He had to look like he was having fun, or he was never going to have any, and it would be a shame to waste the outfit.

He was, according to his magic mirror, the fairest of them all, but since his parents had bought him the mirror the day he started experimenting with nail polish he wasn't entirely sure he could trust its objectivity. When even the ordinary mirrors started telling him how handsome he looked, he knew he was dressed to kill.

Kame had gone for simple, classic, black and white elegance, hoping (yet failing) to set the tone for the inhabitants of the ballroom. The black silk shirt suggested a sensualist, while the crisp, white suit and tie hinted at the prince's suave, serious side. A matching hat lent a jaunty air to the whole outfit, and overall, Kame thought he was probably the best-dressed person in the ballroom.

(Yamapi had vied for the position but lost on account of the excess of fur - *so* last season - and half the guests were decked out like tropical birds, requiring Kame to don his designer sunglasses before he could approach them.)

"Sure, if I can get any of them on the dancefloor," Yamapi agreed and spun off into the night, beer in hand and all the come-hither he could muster glinting in his eyes.

Kame sighed and ducked behind the banners, found his parents canoodling there and beat a hasty retreat in the direction of the doors, under the pretext of requiring some fresh air. He didn't get very far. The great doors were flung open, silencing the entire room, and a newcomer, unannounced, was ushered in.

The herald was plainly flustered, searching his lists for the guest's name to no avail, and from where Kame was watching, the young man declined to give a name.

He didn't need one, Kame decided. The stranger was of the right gender, seemed to fit the age requirements, and was dressed far too nicely to be a common criminal. Whether or not he was single...Kame intended to find that out for himself.

"Let him in!" he called, and the herald gratefully stepped aside to let the newcomer pass.

The ballroom was immediately filled with a low buzz of gossip, the like not heard since last week, and the noise level increased as the stranger walked slowly towards Kame. Dancers and wallflowers alike shuffled towards the outskirts of the room, forming a rough gauntlet through which the young man had to pass, and none lost a chance to gawk.

The prince, reluctant though he was to admit to it, was gawking too, only much less obviously and in a more refined way. He was in good company. All heads turned to stare at the black-clad stranger, who glided effortlessly across the room, projecting an aura of casual indifference to the attention he was receiving.

Kame was used to leaving others speechless - it was one of the perks of being a) royalty and b) impossibly gorgeous. He wasn't used to experiencing it from the other side. Wild brown curls spilled out from under the young man's hat but his face was almost entirely in shadow, and the prince had no clue as to his identity.

Based on the rumours he could hear flying behind him, neither did anyone else.

"He's obviously a foreign prince," one voice whispered, and another burst in with, "I think he must be one of Lord Jun's models!" A cry of "King Takki's secret lovechild!" was hastily suppressed by the queen's supporters, and the offending party tossed in the Royal Swimming Pool as punishment.

The stranger declined to enlighten them, and continued his approach till he stood a reasonable distance from the prince, ever step he took corresponding to an increase in Kame's heartrate. "Thank you, Your Highness," he said, and half the guests sighed in satisfaction at his voice, which was respectful but not awed, musical but not theatrical.

Kame didn't answer, merely held out his hand, palm down, for the stranger to kiss.

Jin gazed at the prince, an auburn-haired vision in white, and wished the butterflies in his stomach would stop dancing the tango. What did *he* know about protocol? The fairy hadn't told him how to behave, damn it, just to get out there and enjoy himself, which he was going to have a hard time doing if the guards threw him out for accidentally insulting the prince.

Junno, he knew, wouldn't have been much help. His pet had loved every moment of the car ride, so much so that he'd deliberately taken several scenic routes to lengthen the journey, thereby ensuring Jin was better than fashionably late. Though he had to admit, the dog wasn't a bad driver. He didn't speed, except when everybody else did, and he only tried to chase his non-existent tail once when they were waiting at the traffic lights.

Jin had left him in the car because they'd had to park round the far side of the palace, where the lighting wasn't so good, and he didn't want to take the chance of annoying Ueda by getting his toy all smashed up. He'd continued on by himself, encountering plenty of inebriated young men but no real obstacles until the herald had asked him for his name, the better to announce him with, and he couldn't all very well have answered truthfully. His stepbrothers would know he wasn't at home doing the ironing, and if they knew, so would their mother. The witch would lock him up till his eighteenth birthday, or longer if she could arrange it - he didn't put it past her to try to keep her unpaid housekeeper slaving away, even after he'd come of age.

And if that happened...Jin didn't know what he'd do. Lose his mind, probably, because some days, the thought of attaining his freedom was all he had to keep him going. If he lost that hope, he lost everything.

But for this one night, at least, he was free. Now all he had to do was not screw up.

It occurred to Jin that, being in the presence of royalty, he really ought to remove his hat. With one hand he swept the fedora neatly to his side, tossing his head so his curls bounced back into place, and prompting a gasp from the crowd as his face was revealed.

The prince didn't gasp, but his lips curved up into a smile and he looked pointedly at his outstretched hand.

Jin could take a hint, even if he wasn't entirely sure what the correct procedure for acting on it was. He decided he couldn't possibly go wrong with being *too* subservient, so he knelt down on one knee and took the prince's hand in his free one, pressing his lips gently against the pale skin.

Was there some sort of manual to cover these situations, he wondered? How long were you supposed to stay like that, and when could you stand up again? Did you have to bow too?

Help presented itself as Prince Kame gave a subtle tug on his hand, enough to signify that Jin's lips were about to overstay their welcome, and he withdrew, shifting gracefully to his feet. He was about to retreat into the crowd in order to get his bearings when he spotted his stepbrothers staring at him with mouths open wide. It was clear that they didn't recognise him - how could they when Jin barely recognised *himself*? - but he didn't want to give them any opportunity for a better look.

Luckily, the prince came to his rescue this time as well. "Want to dance?" he asked smoothly, and the butterflies in Jin's stomach switched from the tango to the foxtrot.

Nevertheless, Jin endeavoured to sound as laidback and confident as the image he projected. "Love to," he replied, equally smoothly, and the prince's smile evolved into an outright smirk, which Jin dared to match.

Suddenly, Prince Kame seized both Jin's hat and his own and flung them at a nearby table, narrowly missing a bottle of wine and a half-finished chocolate mousse. He signalled to the band to resume play and it wasn't long before music drowned out the gossip still working its way round the ballroom.

(A temporary problem involving the bassist, who'd passed out after spending five minutes alone with Prime Minister Nagase, was resolved by persuading Count Maruyama to break away from his circle of eight and substitute himself for the fallen musician.)

Jin looked mournfully at his hat, which was bound to cause a sensation when it vanished off the table at midnight. "I'll be needing that back," he said before he could stop himself.

"Later," said the prince. "You look better without it, and I like to be able to see who I'm dancing with."

"But Kame," came a wail from behind them, "you told me I should wear a mask last time we danced!"

The prince rolled his eyes and ignored the man's despair, putting one hand on Jin's hip and spinning him out onto the dancefloor before anyone else could say a word.

Jin figured if he wanted to enjoy himself, he had to act confident, keep calm, and above all else, not annoy the prince. "Your Highness, did you really tell that guy to wear a mask?" he enquired as they danced, making sure his tone was equal parts amusement and approval.

Prince Kame sighed. "Just call me Kame - everyone else I dance with does. And yes, I told him that. We were at a masked ball, it's traditional. The idiot just wanted everyone to know he was dancing with the prince."

"Weren't you wearing a mask?"

"Of course...but they always _know_." The prince sighed again, a touch melodramatically, obviously fishing for sympathy.

Jin didn't feel inclined to give it to a man who didn't seem to have any problems more meaningful than his social life, so he dipped the prince as a distraction. He hadn't been dancing in years, but he'd lost none of his knack, and if nothing else, all the housework had kept him amazingly supple.

Kame wasn't bad himself, and once he stopped looking round to see who was watching, he loosened up a lot, letting his jacket slip carelessly over his shoulders as he danced. The rather energetic dance movements might have had something to do with it - Jin didn't think he'd had a workout this thorough since the last time he'd had to clean the entire house single-handedly.

All was well for five fast dances, and anyone trying to cut in was rudely brushed aside with a wave of the Royal Painted Fingernails. The other guests eventually stopped watching and continued with their own amusements; the servants circulated with more drinks, ensuring that no one was sober enough to focus too hard on the prince and his partner anyway. They had neither the breath nor the quiet to talk, so enthusiastic was the band: there was no need to concern themselves with idle chit-chat.

No, it was when the first slow number began that Jin was suddenly left with the problem of where to put his hands, and how to step, and why was the prince's left arm snaking round under his coat to wrap around his waist?

"Do you mind?" Kame murmured. "I like the feel of silk."

Jin's breath hitched as warm fingers brushed against his skin through the slits in the back of the shirt. "That's not silk."

"Close enough." Kame stepped quickly to the side to avoid Jin's boot coming down on his toes, and lightly squeezed the other man's hand where it rested in his right. "For the sake of my feet, would you *please* stop fighting it and let me lead?"

"Does everybody just give in to you?" Jin blurted out.

Kame nodded. "Mostly. It's nothing personal, but you're heavier than I am and my toes are the ones at risk, so let me guide you, okay?"

Reluctantly, Jin fell into step with his partner, resisting the urge to control the prince's movements with a hand on the small of his back. He wasn't used to having to work in unison with someone else, was too accustomed to having sole responsibility for his own body, and the idea of handing over that control to someone else, even a prince, riled him.

"You're even cute when you pout, but it doesn't go with the outfit," Kame commented. His expression was calculating, as if he was trying to figure out exactly how Jin should be attired to match.

When the prince broke out in a broad grin, Jin didn't want to know what he was thinking. Even so, it was bound to be more flattering than the thoughts of the small contingent of jealous men who were watching them from the corner of the ballroom, scowling darkly and making murderous gestures in Jin's direction.

Kame followed Jin's gaze and pointed to them with his chin. "Don't let them bother you. They're just envious because I'm dancing with a beautiful stranger and they can't write you hate mail because they have no idea who you are."

That had Jin worried. Could the prince somehow know his identity? "Neither do you, right?"

Kame removed his hand from Jin's back long enough to twirl him. "Right. But I assumed that if you wanted me to know, you'd have told me."

This wonderful, warm, squishy moment of perfect understanding was sabotaged by Viscount Kusano, who tackled the prince to the ground in his efforts to tear him away from Jin. The palace guards followed in hot pursuit but were too late to prevent Kame ending up on the floor. Kusano was dragged away in chains to the sound of Kame yelling at him about ruining his outfit, and Jin, watching the whole affair in quiet amusement, decided the upper classes were all quite mad.

"Knew I should've worn the black leather ones," Kame muttered as he dusted himself off. "Everything shows on white."

"I wasn't expecting *you* to get attacked," Jin said. "I thought he was running towards me."

"Kusano's been chasing me for months. He's a bit...possessive," Kame explained. "In his world, going to one party together makes you engaged."

"Your exes always stalk you?"

Kame cast a wary look over the rest of the ballroom. Kusano's interruption had put a stop to the dancing, and once again, the prince and his partner had everyone's attention. "Only the really persistent ones." He seized Jin's hand and pulled him towards the door. "Come on, I need some air. Maybe they'll all get back to dancing if we absent ourselves for a while."

A short jog through the gardens later and Jin found himself in the middle of a gigantic hedge maze, with no idea how to reach the exit again.

"They'll never find us in here," Kame assured him, and threw himself down on the grass on the grounds that his trousers were already ruined, and green stains couldn't make matters much worse. Jin, all too familiar with the hidden perils of laundry, didn't bother to correct him.

Seeing as how the prince didn't seem to be much for propriety anymore, Jin considered it not to be a grave social faux pas if he joined him on the grass. It would've been silly for him to continue standing, after all. He tucked his coat underneath him and sank down, wrapping his arms around his knees.

"You don't have to sit a mile away, you know. I don't bite," Kame said.

"You don't?" Jin had meant to sound disbelieving, but ended up sounding disappointed instead.

The prince picked up on it and winked at him. "Not unless you ask me nicely."

Jin turned away to hide his pained expression. "I don't _ask_ for anything."

"Why?" Kame asked gently. "Because you don't think you'll get it?"

"Because if you tell somebody what you want, they have power over you." He'd learned that soon enough after his father's remarriage. Accepting what he was given was one thing: asking for something else was quite another. He hadn't even asked to go to the ball - a fairy godmother had appeared and told him he was going, and since this coincided nicely with Jin's wishes, he'd gone along with it.

The lanterns strung at intervals along the hedges cast coloured lights over the area, tinting everything with warm reds and yellows, cool blues and greens. When Jin sneaked a look back at the prince, he couldn't tell if the flushed face was due to the lighting or a sympathetic blush.

He decided it must have been the former when Kame shrugged and said, "I don't know who you are but you're obviously not a noble, or you'd be telling everyone what you want all the time and kicking up a fuss if you didn't get it."

Jin snorted. "Are you going to tell me you're any different? What would a prince know about working to get what he wants, without relying on anyone else?"

"Not much," Kame agreed cheerfully. "I've never had a problem getting anything I want...well, just *one* thing..."

Jin made a 'go on' gesture.

"You know why I threw this ball, right?" Kame asked.

"I heard it was because you're looking for a..." Jin wasn't sure which term was appropriate so he rephrased it. "You're looking for someone to marry," he said diplomatically.

"Yeah, that's it. It feels like the entire kingdom's trying to pressure me into it, and that's fine, I understand, it's my duty to produce an heir and everything, but they can't choose for me." Kame's voice hardened, filling with steely determination. "When I marry, it will be to someone of my choosing."

"Congratulations."

"You don't have to be sarcastic about it. Is it so bad to want to marry for love and not politics?"

Jin did his utmost to avoid politics, largely because all the politicians he'd ever met were incredibly dull. "I don't think that's a bad thing."

"And that's what I want. Someone who'd love me even without my rank, my money and my looks."

It amused Jin no end that the prince shuddered terribly when contemplating the loss of his good looks. Still, even taking into account the occasional mild bursts of vanity, he didn't seem like a bad guy. Not as domineering as Jin had been expecting, and he had a sense of humour.

"I'm pretty sure the guy you just had dragged away in chains meets your criteria," he cracked. "He seems desperate enough to take you any way he can get you."

Kame looked decidedly queasy at the thought. "I'm not interested in stalkers and men who throw themselves at me. No challenge."

"You want someone who'll make you work for it," Jin speculated.

"Something so important is worth the effort, isn't it?" Kame twisted a blade of grass between his fingers until it broke, then seized a replacement without looking and began to give it the same treatment.

A nervous gesture, Jin thought. His father had had the same habit, though in his case he'd twisted a length of ribbon, and only when he was anxious about something. Could he, Jin Akanishi, a mere merchant's son, be making the prince nervous?

Though he had to admit, his mostly-black ensemble did look a little intimidating - a bit like an incredibly stylish gunslinger - so perhaps it was only natural that the prince was feeling ill-at-ease. He shot Kame a reassuring smile and was heartened when the other man responded in kind, fingers ceasing their motions - much to the relief of the grass.

"Anything your heart truly desires is worth the effort," Jin said eventually, thinking of his one-month countdown to freedom and the lengths he'd gone to to ensure his plans remained a secret. Once, he'd been indignant, believing that as his deceased father's only son, he alone had the right to the house and property, and that once he came of age he would be in a position to evict his stepfamily.

After a while he'd realised that even if he had the house to himself, it wouldn't be _home_ , and deposing the woman who had legitimately been his father's wife would only give him a moment's petty satisfaction.

The only solution, as Jin saw it, was to start again elsewhere, to carve a new life for himself. (Along with his dog, of course.) And for that, he was prepared to do _anything_.

He should've seen the next question coming. "And what does *your* heart desire?" the prince asked him. "What do you want most in the world?"

Telling Kame what he wanted, Jin discovered, was not the same as trying to convey his wishes to his stepfamily. They'd only use them against him, offer them as bait to make him compliant. But a prince, no matter how capricious, would have no incentive to do the same.

"What do I want, hmm?" He unwrapped his arms from his knees and stretched his legs out on the grass, crossing one booted leg over the other. If he looked casual, maybe he could manage to sound casual. "I want...to start again. I want a new life, where no one can give me orders and I can be myself."

Kame reached out and put a hand in the crook of his elbow. "Are you being yourself now?"

Jin was surprised by the urgency in the prince's voice, by the way his fingers curled tightly around Jin's arm. "That hurts! And yes, I'm being myself. I wasn't until after the first few dances, when I realised that just because you're royalty doesn't mean you don't say and do stupid things."

Kame's grip loosened, and when he laughed, Jin could feel it in the tug at his sleeve. "I get that from my dad."

Kame's family situation was fairly unusual; Jin surmised in this instance he was talking about King Takki as Queen (it was a non-gendered job title) Tsubasa didn't seem nearly so goofy. "My stepmother's heart would be broken," he said lightly. "She thinks he's perfect."

"You have a stepmother, huh?"

Jin cursed himself mentally for letting the detail slip out, especially since the prince had all but jumped on it. He tried to sound casual but his interest was evident in the eagerness of his tone, in the way his grip tightened before checking itself and easing off. Jin did his best to dissaude him from pursuing the matter further by snapping "Yes, I have a stepmother" and clamping his mouth shut.

It didn't work. "You have any brothers or sisters?"

There had to be hundreds of people in the kingdom with stepfamilies, didn't there? It wasn't as if the prince could possibly identify Jin just because he told him the truth. "Two stepbrothers," he said reluctantly. "We don't really get along that well." That might have been true but it was a blatant understatement.

"You're so lucky." Kame sighed enviously. "I don't have any siblings at all. It was difficult enough for my parents to have me in the first place, they refused to have any more children."

"If you want my stepbrothers you're welcome to them!" Jin meant it, every word. "They're probably back there in the ballroom, waiting for your return so they can make you fall madly in love with them."

"Both of them?"

"They're prepared to fight it out for you, but I don't think their mother's picky about who wins."

Somehow, during the course of the conversation, Kame had managed to sidle unobtrusively up to Jin. They sat together, a study in black and white (and occasionally other colours where the lantern light hit them), Kame nudging Jin's hip with his own where his hand had been earlier.

"Maybe she isn't but I am!" Kame protested, laughing.

Jin waved his hand dismissively. "Trust me, you don't want either of them."

"So I should pick you instead?"

Jin opened his mouth to answer before he heard the question, and once the words filtered through his brain, he realised he didn't even know what to say.

Not that it mattered. Kame wouldn't have heard him anyway - chimes rang out on every hour from the ancient palace clock tower, and after the last count of eleven, Jin had vowed to keep a close eye on the time.

That vow had been quickly forgotten, and the clock was striking twelve now.

Midnight. Time for the magic to end.

\-----

"Wait!" Kame yelled as the beautiful stranger leapt to his feet and looked around frantically for the exit. "Don't go! I didn't mean to upset you!"

He could've kicked himself for ruining the mood. Obviously, his mysterious new dance partner had a fear of commitment, which Kame should've worked out earlier from his responses about starting a new life and being himself. Hinting - even in jest - about matrimony had been an impossibly stupid move, and one that Kame was going to regret for the rest of his life if he didn't do something.

He scrambled up and made a grab for the black-clad man, who easily evaded his lunge and took flight through the hedge. No exit was apparent - clearly, he was so upset by Kame's words that he was desperate enough to make his own.

"Wait!" Kame called again. "How do you feel about co-habitation?"

But it was too late. By the time Kame managed to unsnag his bangs from a particularly vicious hedge, his quarry was long gone, leaving only a faint impression in the grass...and...

There! A gleam of silver!

Kame delved into the bushes and retrieved the bright, shiny earring, the lady he'd seen dangling against his dance partner's curls. It was a clue, all he had to lead him to his mystery man, and Kame wasn't going to waste this chance.

He headed back to the ballroom to find everyone in an uproar.

"We thought you'd eloped!" Yamapi cried breathlessly as he ran up to Kame.

"After a few dances? Do I look that easy?"

Yamapi pointed to the very obvious grass stains on Kame's once-white trousers. "I know where you were!" he crowed. "So? What happened? Who is he? And...uh..." he looked around, puzzled, " _where_ is he?"

"Nothing happened, I don't know but I'm going to find out, and he ran away."

"Oh." Yamapi snatched up a dish of chocolate-covered strawberries and began comfort-eating on his friend's behalf. "What did you do to make him run away?"

"I'm not really sure." Kame retrieved his long-forgotten hat, wondered for a moment when the stranger had had time to retrieve *his* since it wasn't there anymore, and sank down into the chair a helpful courtier pushed under him. "I don't think he's keen on marriage."

"Too bad. You guys would've looked great together in the wedding photos."

"Wouldn't we just?"

Having his ego stroked cheered Kame up a little, and he turned his attention to the task at hand. The earring was his only lead, and while, as a prince, it was a tad tricky to follow it up himself, he had at his disposal one man who was equally familiar with the intricacies of jewellery shopping.

 _One week later..._

Yamapi had spared no effort in tracking down the origins of the earring. Accompanied by a succession of pretty young things, he'd visited every jeweller in the kingdom, and the answer he'd come back with was this:

The earring and matching necklace worn by the stranger had been custom-made for the fifteenth birthday present of the son of the merchant who'd had them commissioned, and the jeweller had never made another piece of that design. Unfortunately, he didn't remember the name of the merchant, nor did he have it in his records, meaning that they were no closer to identifying the prince's mystery man.

Not until Kame had a bright idea. The young man in black still had the other half of the set (assuming he hadn't thrown the necklace away when he'd noticed the loss of the earring, and Kame didn't even want to think about that), and therefore all they had to do was find a man with a matching chain.

But they had to be cunning about it. Kame was under no illusions about this: if they publicised the earring's design and asked for anyone owning the match to come forward, half the men in the kingdom would own identical pieces within a week. They would have to keep it a secret. There was no guarantee that even so beautiful a stranger would be easily identified - he had, no doubt, dressed up for the ball and might look completely different in everyday life.

And thus the hunt began in the form of a road trip, as Yamapi and a handful of bodyguards drove around the kingdom, going from house to house and requesting all men in the right age bracket to bring out their necklaces. Word spread quickly, and before long, the young men were waiting on their front lawns, decked out in every shiny bauble they could find, hoping that the prince's hunting party would drive by.

(Alas, it was considered far too dangerous for Prince Kame to tour the kingdom himself, since he was both the heir and an only child, and so he had to stay at home.)

Kame called Yamapi every day to find out how the search was going, but there was never any news. Not until the day the hunting party visited the house of the Widow Akanishi...

\-----

"Hurry, hurry!" the witch urged. "I've just had a call from Cousin Sophia and they're on their way! Haven't you finished cleaning yet, boy?"

Jin dodged his stepmother's flying handbag, thrown out of sheer impatience, and settled for sweeping everything into the kitchen instead. "I'm done," he said sullenly.

His mood had been terrible since the night of the ball. He'd been having a wonderful evening with the prince, dancing and talking, slowly discovering exactly why it was that Kame was so beloved by his people, when the stroke of midnight had put a stop to it in the worst way. With no idea how to leave the maze normally, he'd been forced to plough through the hedges until he escaped the outer wall, and from there had sprinted back to the car, not stopping to collect his hat.

The car, much to his surprise, was still there, and so was the driver. Junno had picked up on his master's urgency and got them back to the house in less than ten minutes, driving so fast that Jin could only assume that they hadn't been pulled over for speeding because no one stood a chance of catching them. The resulting breeze did an excellent job of removing the twigs and leaves that had caught in his curls, too.

By the time they got home, Jin's clothes had reverted to tatty jeans and a shirt and the car was just beginning to shrink. He scrambled out as fast as he could and watched the Ferarri grow smaller and smaller until it became a toy once more, at which point it vanished into thin air, presumably back into Ueda's pocket.

Ten minutes later, Jin was back in the house, curled up with a blanket and a box of doggy treats. Not with Junno, because even though his canine companion was once again a happy black Labrador with a tail that just wouldn't quit, Jin found it a trifle difficult to adjust to petting the creature who'd just driven him home. Junno whined, giving Jin the big puppy-dog eyes, and lay down on the floor next to the bed to catch the treats with his mouth. Jin had promised him, after all.

It wasn't the end Jin had been anticipating to his evening. At least the ironing had stayed done, even if all the other magic had unravelled, but not only had Jin done the complete opposite of everyone else and actually run away from the prince without so much as a word of explanation, but he'd managed to lose his precious earring in the process.

He was so dejected over it that he couldn't even be bothered to hide the necklace anymore, just tucked it under his shirt where his family couldn't see it. It made him feel a little better, like he was someone special, having something so treasured next to his skin.

That, and hearing his stepbrothers come home raving about the unknown beauty at the ball who'd so captivated the prince. Sure, Jin knew nothing could ever have come of it, but it was still flattering to think that he'd been the envy of so many people.

It was also astonishing just how clueless his stepbrothers were, not recognising him simply because he'd left his hair loose and not worn a bandana, but perhaps he should've expected that.

His stepmother, naturally, was fuming over the whole affair. Her boys had been shunned in favour of some unknown hussy, (which was probably the most flattering of the terms she'd used to describe him), and she was ready to tear out his hair by the roots if she ever caught him.

That is, until she heard about the prince's search. After that, she'd driven Jin to distraction with her incessant demands for cleaning. Everything had to be perfect.

Perfection, as it turned out, didn't include Jin. Once the house was satisfactory he was banished to the kitchen and ordered to remain there. When he protested at this, his stepmother pointed out that not only did he not have any jewellery to show the prince's man, but he hadn't been at the ball and thus could not possibly be sought-after stranger.

Jin's retort that it obviously wasn't Koki or Nakamaru either didn't sit well with their mother, and she locked him in the kitchen with orders to prepare dinner.

"She can get her own dinner," Jin muttered vehemently into Junno's floppy ear. "She'll be so upset when they're both turned down she probably won't want to eat anyway."

He took up a position behind the kitchen door, prying open the small sliding panel so he could hear what was going on. Junno stayed silently by his master's side, reaping the occasional reward of a pat on the nose. Jin could picture them now, all waiting eagerly in the parlour, every necklace they owned hanging round their necks in an attempt to outdo each other.

Voices carried easily down the hall: strangers now, men from the palace. Jin thought he recognised one of them as the man who'd come up to speak to Kame a couple of times while they were dancing. A noble, most likely. They wouldn't hear him if he yelled, and even if he did manage to draw their attention to himself and show them the necklace tucked under his shirt, who'd believe he hadn't stolen it?

The prince would've, but then, Kame was the only person who'd gotten a real look at him face-to-face - everyone else had seen him from a distance on the dancefloor, few daring to approach quite so close to the prince.

Would Jin have gone with them if he could? He didn't know. Kame's last words to him had sounded suspiciously marriage-oriented, and while that would've fit in nicely with Jin's plans to start over, he wasn't sure that tying himself down to a whole new family was the right way to go about it. The last lot of relatives he'd acquired hadn't worked out so well, after all.

On the other hand, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the prince since he'd escape the maze. It didn't matter what he was doing. If he peeled potatoes, they had Kame's face. If he scrubbed the floor, Kame's features appeared in the suds. When he closed his eyes at night, Kame haunted his dreams. Jin didn't believe in love at first sight, but he was willing to concede _like_ , at the very least, and a definite interest which, from the prince's expressions and behaviour, he judged to be returned.

And he was damned attractive, but that was neither here nor there.

Anguished wails floated down the hall to the kitchen - someone had just been rejected. Jin snickered to himself and wondered which one it was.

Another anguished wail, followed by a third - clearly, the witch was getting in on it too. But she'd missed out on her chance to see one of her sons married to the prince. Surely the party would be leaving now?

From a corner of the kitchen, unseen by anyone bar Junno, a small tornado of fairy dust spun wildly, quadrupling its size in a flash and tearing all the pots and pans from the wall. The cookware hit the floor with a tremendous crash; the dog howled, adding his voice to the noise, and if Jin hadn't been covering his ears he might have heard the following conversation...

"Is there someone else in the house?" Yamapi asked as he prepared to leave.

"Well..." the Widow Akanishi hedged. "There's my poor dear husband's son from his first marriage, but he's a bit simple - almost a danger to himself, really - so we keep him shut away. He likes to play with the saucepans, so we let him do that and it seems to keep him happy."

"That's very nice of you," Yamapi said politely, "but I still have to see him, on the prince's orders."

"But he couldn't possibly be the man you're looking for! Why, he's never even been to the palace!"

Her protests were all in vain as Yamapi turned on his heel and headed for the kitchen door, guards in tow. Jin missed all this entirely as he was trying to pick up all the pots and pans, utterly baffled as to what had caused them to leap off their respective hooks, and thus remained unenlightened until a key turned in the lock, and the door was flung open.

Jin saw the bodyguards first and picked up a particularly large skillet to defend himself with.

Yamapi elbowed the others aside and pushed his way into the kitchen where the fur on his boots was promptly attacked by Junno. "It's okay," he said, holding up his hands in a show of peace. "I'm not here to take your pots and pans away. I just want to talk for a minute, okay, and then you can go right back to playing."

"Huh?" Jin set the skillet down behind him and tried to figure out why the young noble was talking to him like he was five years old. "You're not staying for dinner, are you? Because I haven't started cooking yet."

It was Yamapi's turn to look baffled. "Uh...I never turn down food, but we've still got a lot of houses to try so..."

"Of course you should stay for dinner," Jin's stepmother cooed. "We'd be delighted to have your company. Jin, you're making extra."

"I thought you said he was simple," Yamapi said suspiciously. "Why are you letting him cook? Aren't you afraid he'll burn the house down?"

Jin's look of disbelief clinched it for him. Yamapi strode across the room, slightly hampered by Junno savaging his boots, till he was inches away from Jin. He scrutinised him closely - the young man's face looked very familiar - and caught a glint of silver peeking out from the collar of the ragged grey shirt.

Years of practice had made him adept at tearing open shirts, and the worn material parted easily to reveal a silver lady, the missing partner to the earring Yamapi had in a pouch round his neck. He pulled it out and held it up for comparison, prompting furious gasps from the doorway.

"You found my earring," Jin said happily, forgetting to be angry about his shirt. He plucked his missing lady from Yamapi's hand and pushed it through the hole in his ear.

Then he ripped off the bandana and removed the band round his hair, shaking his head to let the curls fall free, and the gasps from the doorway increased in volume.

Yamapi immediately grabbed him by both hands. "You have to come back with me! Kame sent me to find you and he's going to be so happy now I finally have!"

"I...uh..." Jin didn't know how to respond, but Yamapi's grin was infectious and Jin thought he could manage to return that, anyway.

"It was you?" came a voice from the doorway, and Jin looked across to see the incredulous faces of his stepbrothers.

"Where'd you get the outfit?" Koki asked. "It wasn't anywhere near as fancy as the stuff you made for us."

"But it looked better," Nakamaru added, and flashed Jin an encouraging smile.

Koki scowled, then melted into a smile of his own. "I guess it did. Go on, get out of here. Go marry a prince."

Jin's stepmother burst into noisy tears. Nakamaru attempted to reassure her. "Cheer up, Mama. You'll still get to be the mother of a princess."

That snapped Jin out of his bliss-induced confusion in a hurry. "Princess! Just wait a minute-"

"It's a non-gendered job title," Yamapi interrupted, and pulled Jin towards the door before Junno could do any more damage to his clothing.

\-----

 _One year later..._

"Stop!" Yamapi yelled, and threw himself in front of the door so Kame couldn't possibly walk through it. "It's bad luck to see the bride all dressed up before the wedding!"

Kame shook his head wearily. The ceremony hadn't even started yet and he was already exhausted. "It's nice of you to be concerned about my luck, Pi, but I'm not marrying a bride! I had a hard enough time getting Jin to accept my proposal in the first place, so please don't make him regret it at the last moment."

"I can hear you guys, you know," came a muffled voice from the other side of the door. "Any more cracks about a bride and I'm going to set Junno loose on your respective wardrobes."

Kame winced and motioned for Yamapi to keep his mouth shut _or else_. Jin's beloved dog had slotted nicely into life at the palace, making himself a favourite with everyone - more so than Jin's stepfamily, who had insisted on coming with. The brothers weren't so bad, once he got used to their sense of humour, but Kame had the feeling he was about to acquire the stepmother-in-law from hell. Jin was in the lead in the in-law stakes, since he was getting not one but two fathers-in-law instead - ones who looked less than a decade older than him.

A Royal Wedding was a special event for the entire kingdom, and consequently, everyone of note had been invited. Even Viscount Kusano had made it on to the guest list, on the understanding that he didn't touch a drop of alcohol and was never less than thirty paces away from the prince. He'd accepted eagerly.

Surprisingly, so had Ueda, the professional Fairy Godmother responsible for Kame meeting the love of his life in the first place. The whole story had spilled out the same afternoon Yamapi had brought Jin back to the palace, and while all concerned felt it was a somewhat unorthodox situation, there was no denying that it had worked out. The wedding date had been set that very night, and it was then that the problems started.

When Kame's parents had decided that there would be a year-long engagement before the wedding, Kame thought they were being...well...killjoys. What he hadn't realised (but they all too obviously had) was that it was actually going to take him that long to talk Jin into marrying him.

"If we don't get out to the garden soon, everyone's going to worry that we've eloped!" Kame called through the door. "I think it's only traditional for *one* of us to be late. I don't mind if you want it to be you, but can you let me know in the next five minutes?"

"I'm ready *now*," came an answering growl, and Jin stepped through the door. "I look like a chess piece."

"Then I must be your opposite number," Kame remarked.

The black-and-white combination had worked so well for them at the ball that they'd decided to redo it for their wedding, but reversed, with Jin in white and Kame in black, both wearing silver jewellery. No hats this time, and both had opted to do without ties. The photos were going to be glorious.

Whether the honeymoon was going to be equally glorious, Kame wasn't sure. For security reasons, they were going to a location so secret even he didn't know where it was, accompanied by a contingent of bodyguards and a sorcerer Takki had talked into a working vacation. Getting time alone with Jin might be a problem - though possibly less difficult than it had been all year, since they'd finally be married and only a royal decree could separate them.

It wasn't easy, Kame had discovered, to court a guy when he insisted on climbing out of windows, hiding out in the sub-basements to practise his guitar and taking off on long, rambling walks in the woods with his dog, frequently giving palace security a nightmare and Kame what he thought might have been the onset of a heart attack.

It wasn't so much, as Kame had originally thought, that Jin had a fear of commitment. It wasn't even that he had a fear of Kame, as many passion-filled nights had proven. (Neither of them felt inclined to wait for their wedding night, and Jin's stepfamily-suppressed hormones had nearly killed them both the first time.)

 _He just didn't seem to want to be part of the family._

\-----

 

The last year had gone by in a whirl for Jin, starting with his being brought back to the palace. The first person to greet him had been Kame himself, and after that...well...

It wasn't that he didn't want to be part of this warm, loving family, with all that entailed. He did want it, desperately - had wanted it since his father's remarriage. But he couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, it was all going to go wrong, and he was going to come off worse for it. He was going to tie himself down on a sinking ship, lose his freedom...lose everything.

He flinched as Kame took his arm.

"If you run away when we're walking down the aisle, I'm going to have the guards handcuff us together," Kame whispered to him as they finally began to stroll out to the garden where everyone was waiting for them.

"You could run away with me?" Jin suggested. Elopement would get them away from everyone, family included.

Junno, following along behind them with Yamapi, gave a mournful whine at this.

"Don't worry, boy," Yamapi said, stroking the dog's glossy black coat. "If they run away, we'll run after them and drag them back. They have to be here so I can give my speech at the reception."

The palace gardens were enormous, not counting the orchards, the vegetable gardens and the maze. Or the sunken garden, which wasn't really suitable to hold a wedding. The minister was waiting for them at the far end, and everywhere Jin looked, people were smiling.

Everyone was happy. Jin did his best to imitate them.

Unfortunately, Kame wasn't fooled.

"What?" he murmured as they walked arm-in-arm. "I had them take all mentions of princesses out of the ceremony, and all the references to obedience and providing an heir. What else do you want me to do?"

Jin shook his head. "Sorry," he whispered back. "I guess I'm just tense. Don't worry about it."

"Can you two walk a little faster?" Yamapi muttered from behind them. "I'm starved, and we have to get you married off before I can eat."

He was ignored by everyone except Junno, who turned a neat somersault at the mention of food.

"How can I not worry about whether or not the person I'm about to marry is going to suddenly run straight past the minister and climb over the back fence!" Kame hissed. "I'm a prince, you've got a fairy godmother - aren't we supposed to have a fairy-tale wedding and live happily ever after?"

"Yeah, but I'm supposed to be female, we're both supposed to be virgins, and you're supposed to be more interested in jousting than painting your nails!"

Kame coloured slightly. "I could paint little lances on them?" he offered.

Jin sighed. It was going to be a long ceremony.

Much to everyone's surprise, the wedding actually went with very few hitches. So much of the wording had been cut out that the minister only got to speak for about two minutes, thirty seconds of which was him asking if somebody could *please* stop this dog from nibbling on his robes, and all mentions of gender had been carefully removed by the queen himself.

Kame said his vows first, meaning every word. Jin had, as promised, made him work for it, and it had been worth every second.

Jin's vows had come as a surprise to everyone except Yamapi, who, unbeknownst even to Jin himself, had edited them to take out all references to commitment, and indeed to everything except love. All Jin had to do was promise to love Kame, and that, he had no qualms about promising. The first hints of attraction he'd felt the night they met had blossomed into something far more serious as he'd gotten to know the young prince, and Kame's greeting when he arrived at the palace under Yamapi's escort had told Jin all he needed to know about Kame's feelings for him.

The minister sounded positively relieved when he pronounced them married and told them they could now kiss each other, and while he headed straight for the bar, followed closely by some of Duke Subaru's cronies, Jin and Kame opted to follow his instruction.

It was by no means a first kiss for either of them, or even one of their first hundred, but it might as well have been for the hush that fell over the crowd. Yamapi was the first to cheer; the rest, human and canine alike, were quick to join in.

"Did you change my vows as well?" Jin asked under the noise of the crowd.

Kame shrugged. "Not my doing. I think our best man might have had a hand in it, though - I saw him talking to the minister earlier. Did you answer honestly?"

Jin didn't even need to think about it. "Yeah. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"Considering that the night I proposed, I had to climb up half the trees in the orchard to find which one you'd fallen asleep in after climbing out of your bedroom window again, you walked into matrimony today without too many problems."

"That's because..." Jin hesitated, then shot Kame a playful grin. "Because when I was vowing to love *you*, it hit me that I wasn't marrying your family. Not that I don't like your parents, because they're amazing, but you're the only person I'm making a commitment to. And you made a commitment to me too, so you can't leave me."

"And mine had a lot more terms and conditions," Kame said darkly. "I think your stepbrothers teamed up to throw in an anti-nuptial contract in there somewhere that says if I want a divorce, I have to give you two-thirds of everything I own."

"What would I do with two-thirds? I'd want it all!"

"Jin!"

"Just kidding. Can we have cake now?"

"You're hungry too? You're as bad as Yamapi!"

"Nah, I just want to lick the icing off your lips."

Kame smirked. "You do have a very talented tongue," he agreed.

Jin's response, which would have scandalised a good half of the wedding guests (though probably not his fathers-in-law), was barely audible even to Kame as the noise level rose from tolerable to ridiculous.

There was a good reason for this, as it turned out, and it came from the enormous tent set up for the food.

Evidently, nobody had thought to inform Yamapi that it was not appropriate to conceal a stripper in a wedding cake.


End file.
